Redding students get into college spirit

Elementary dedicates day to higher learning

Students filled Juniper Elementary School's gym with cheers, roars and the clanking of stomping feet so loud a passer-by might have thought it thunder. Others paraded in, shouting, swinging flags and sporting shirts in a range of hues, from the deep red of Stanford to the bright yellow of a banana slug of the University of California-Santa Cruz.

It was College Day at Juniper Elementary — the first of many this year.

That's because, while schools across Shasta County celebrated by wearing jerseys of their favorite schools, Juniper is dedicating each Monday to higher education.

"The conversation I had with my two kids about college aren't happening with some of the other families," said Brad Clagg, principal of Juniper Elementary. "A lot of our parents aren't considering it (because) they didn't go to college."

Although Mondays will be Juniper's regular College Days, the students celebrated for the first time Friday.

Juniper, Clagg said, received its highest scores to date on the Academic Performance Index.

That was the catalyst, he said, for the "College for You" program in which, through donations and a private grant, the school obtained banners and T-shirts from Chico State University, Humboldt State University, UCLA and others.

"In math, 70 percent of you are either proficient or advanced," Clagg told the students.

"We have 70 percent of our kids on track to go to college."

Mekala Gibson, an eighth-grader, came up with the idea of building two paper banana slugs, the mascot of UCSC, where her older brother attends. She also suggested the class carry the big slugs into the gym.

"They have the potential to go to college," Gibson said. "That's why I think this is a good idea."

Mekala's class is already learning about what they can expect on the SAT.

First-grade teacher Vanita Ulch said she wants to take a field trip to Chico State, and is including college themes in her language lessons.

"In the first grade, you really work on rhyming," she said. "We've learned college and knowledge. We're learning knowledge to go to college."

Fourth-grader Mikey Rozell, whose class selected UCLA, said he wants to go to college and play football.

He wants to be either a police officer or go into the army, he said.

College Day, he said, is "awesome."

Clagg said he plans to reach out to parents, too, having informational meetings with the Parent Teacher Association. He said many students come from poor families. Eighty percent of them receive free or reduced-price lunches.

"They can go to college; it is an option," Clagg said. "Right now, their academics are showing that."